Drivers told NHTSA that they rarely consider traffic situations when deciding when to use their phone.
The Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – NHTSA – today released 2010 fatality and injury data showing highway deaths fell to 32,885 for the year, the lowest level of auto fatalities since 1949. What was termed a record-breaking decline in auto fatalities occurred as American drivers traveled nearly 46 billion more miles during the year, an increase of 1.6% compared to 2009.
The auto fatality rate was 1.10 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2010, down from 1.15 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2009. Fatalities declined in most categories in 2010, including for occupants of passenger cars and light trucks, including SUVs, minivans and pickups. Deaths in crashes involving drunk drivers dropped 4.9% 2010, at 10,228 lives compared to 10,759 in 2009. Fatalities rose among pedestrians, motorcycle riders, and large truck occupants.
NHTSA also unveiled a new measure of fatalities related to distracted driving today, called “distraction-affected crashes.”
Introduced for 2010 in an attempt to improve data collection to get better information about the role of distraction in crashes, the new measure is designed to focus more narrowly on crashes in which a driver was most likely to have been distracted.
NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) previously recorded a broad range of potential distractions, such as careless driving and cell phone present in the vehicle. The new measure focuses on distractions that are most likely to affect crash involvement, such as distraction by dialing a cellular phone or texting and distraction by an outside person/event. New data released today by NHTSA using its refined methodology show an estimated 3,092 fatalities in distraction-affected crashes in 2010, which may or may not represent a decrease from last year’s 5,474 distracted driving deaths.
NHTSA said in a release that its effort to refine distraction data is similar to a step taken with alcohol information in FARS data for 2006. Prior to 2006, FARS reported “alcohol-related crashes,” which was defined as crashes in which a driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist had a blood alcohol level of .01 or higher. In an effort to focus on crashes in which alcohol was most likely to be a causative factor, NHTSA introduced the new measure, “alcohol-impaired driving crashes,” with a more narrow definition including only those crashes in which a driver or motorcycle rider had a blood alcohol level of .08 or above, the legal limit in every state.
“Even as we celebrate the incredible gains we’re making in reducing traffic fatalities, we recognize our responsibility to improve our understanding of the dangers that continue to threaten drivers and passengers,” said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland.
While the change in methodology means the new measure cannot be compared to the “distraction-related” fatalities reported in 2009, NHTSA said data offer some indication that driver distraction continues to be a significant problem. The agency’s nationwide observational survey of drivers in traffic remains unchanged between 2009 and 2010, with 5% of drivers seen talking on handheld phones. In addition, given ongoing challenges in capturing the scope of the problem—including individuals’ reluctance to admit behavior, lack of witnesses, and in some cases the death of the driver—NHTSA believes the actual number of crashes that involve distracted driving could be higher.
